Kyle Broussard EDUC 5312 Mid Term Assessment

Qualitative Mini Proposal

I. Problem/Topic

The effect Psychological Skills Training will have on a baseball player’s performance

II. Why does this need to be investigated?

The Purpose of this study is to investigate the relation between Psychological Skills
Training and on-field performance for a baseball player, specifically if the player
improves at handling tough situations, failure, and if Psychological Skills Training
helps the player feel more prepared.

III. Research Question/ Hypothesis:

How does Psychological Skills Training impact a division III college baseball player?

It is hypothesized that if a baseball player commits to improving their Psychological

Skills on a daily basis, it will improve their chances of feeling better prepared for
tough mental situations, and the failure that comes with baseball.

IV. Limitations

The limitations would be that a college athlete does not have much spare time to give
toward improving their psychological skills. The study would be done over a short
period of time. That some players may not give their best effort during the study.

V. Literature Review
Topics to search (keywords)
Psychological Skills Training Performance
Mental Toughness Preparation
Baseball Players Handling of failure
Collegiate Level Mental thinking in baseball
 Possible Articles:
Paquette, K. J., & Sullivan, P. (2012). Canadian Curling Coaches' Use of Psychological
Skills Training. Sport Psychologist, 26(1), 29-42.
Weinberg, R., Freysinger, V., Mellano, K., & Brookhouse, E. (2016). Building Mental
Toughness: Perceptions of Sport Psychologists. Sport Psychologist, 30(3), 231-
241.
Gnacinski, S. L., Massey, W. V., Hess, C. W., Nai, M. M., Arvinen-Barrow, M., &
Meyer, B. B. (2017). Examining Stage of Change Differences in NCAA Student-
Athletes' Readiness for Psychological Skills Training. Sport Psychologist, 31(4),
356-368.
Birrer, D., & Morgan, G. (2010). Psychological skills training as a way to enhance an
athlete's performance in high-intensity sports. Scandinavian Journal Of Medicine
& Science In Sports, 2078-87.
Wrisberg, C. A., Loberg, L. A., Simpson, D., Withycombe, J. L., & Reed, A. (2010). An
Exploratory Investigation of NCAA Division-I Coaches' Support of Sport
Psychology Consultants and Willingness to Seek Mental Training Services. Sport
Psychologist, 24(4), 489-503.

VI. Qualitative Research Method

This research study will be a qualitative research study. This will be a case study
because I will be exploring the effects Psychological Skills Training has on a D III
baseball player. Additionally, parts of my research may include action research and
narrative research, because I will be working with the players I coach and letting
them tell their story about the effects PST had on their performance.

VII. Setting/Participants/Sampling

The setting for this study will be a division 3 college baseball team at East Texas
Baptist University. The participants will be between the age of 18-22 and will include
position players, starting pitchers, and relief pitchers. The sampling will be purposive
because I will be controlling who will be take part in the study. I plan to account for
trustworthiness by not having any bias take very detailed daily observations and
records. I will make sure that anyone who looks at my data can follow it clearly so
they can see how I came up with my decisions, and I will try to have good
triangulation.
VIII. Types of Data

I will have observations from how the players handled different situations during
practice and games. I will have players reflect on their performances and what they
were thinking during those different situations. I will conduct interviews, and
surveys to help me ensure the findings I made are accurate.

IX. Data Analysis/Coding

Each day I hope to go through and sort my data. I will keep clean records with the
appropriate data and times. I plan to record everything on paper and transfer it to
my computer where I will sort it. Using different paragraphs that are labeled based
on code names. First I will use colored highlighters to highlight the different areas on
the paper to make it easier to divide into categories.